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2025 telus cup okanagan rockets

Road to the 2025 TELUS Cup: Okanagan Rockets

The Pacific Region champions were giant killers en route to their first trip to the national stage in 11 years

Jason LaRose
|
April 19, 2025
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Of the five teams that won regional titles to advance to the 2025 TELUS Cup, three – the Regina Pat Canadians, Elgin Middlesex Canucks and Chevaliers de Lévis – finished atop their respective leagues in the regular season, and another – the Moncton Flyers – finished level on points but lost out on first place on a tiebreaker.

And then there’s the Okanagan Rockets, who had to beat ‘em to join ‘em.

The Rockets – the third-place team in the B.C. Elite Hockey League (BCEHL) – had to go on the road to beat the best in the BCEHL, the Cariboo Cougars, winning the best-of-three final on an overtime goal from Hudson Getzlaf in Game 3.

Then they had to travel to Alberta and outlast the Alberta Elite Hockey League champion Calgary Flames in another three-game thriller, getting 28 saves from Finn McKiernan in a 1-0 victory in the deciding game.

Now Okanagan will make the 290-kilometre journey to Chilliwack for Canada’s U18 Men’s National Club Championship, 11 years after NHL first-rounder Tyson Jost helped it to bronze at the 2014 TELUS Cup.

Dion Schraeder paced the offence with a BCEHL-high 39 goals in 36 games, and his 62 points were second best in the league (and 21 more than any other Rocket).

It has been 43 years since the Burnaby Winter Club claimed B.C.’s lone national title, and the Rockets’ bronze is the only medal won by a West Coast team since then. This year’s U18 Men’s National Club Championship is the first ever to feature a pair of teams from British Columbia, with Okanagan joining the host Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.

HOW THEY GOT TO CHILLIWACK

British Columbia Elite Hockey League
Quarterfinal: defeated Vancouver NE Chiefs 2-0 (4-1, 6-2)
Semifinal: defeated Valley West Giants 2-0 (6-0, 2-1)
Final: defeated Cariboo Cougars 2-1 (4-2, 2-4, 3-2 OT)

Pacific Regional
Final: defeated Calgary Flames 2-1 (4-1, 0-4, 1-0)

REGULAR SEASON

Record (W-L-OTL-T): 21-12-1-2 (3rd in BCEHL)
Goals for: 149 (5th in BCEHL)
Goals against: 121 (3rd in BCEHL)
Longest winning streak: 6 (Jan. 11-26)
Top 3 scorers:
- Dion Schraeder – 39G 23A 62P (2nd in BCEHL)
- Gavin Wood – 11G 30A 41P (19th in BCEHL)
- Nathan Juch – 10G 27A 37P (25th in BCEHL)

PLAYOFFS

Record: 8-2
Goals for: 32
Goals against: 17
Top 3 scorers:
- Gavin Wood – 4G 8A 12P
- Brayden Westman – 5G 6A 11P
- Hayden Laing – 3G 8A 11P

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

2014 – Okanagan Rockets | bronze medal | 2-2-3 | 28GF 22GA

WHL DRAFTED PLAYERS

Hudson Getzlaf – Vancouver Giants 2023 (5th round, 108th overall)
Von Lakovic – Kelowna Rockets 2024 (6th round, 113th overall)
Logan Jugnauth – Prince George Cougars 2023 (6th round, 125th overall)
Kylen Martens – Tri-City Americans 2023 (9th round, 189th overall)
Hayden Laing – Tri-City Americans 2023 (9th round, 191st overall)
Elijah Henson – Edmonton Oil Kings 2022 (9th round, 197th overall)
Carter Rebman – Edmonton Oil Kings 2024 (11th round, 226th overall)

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

emadziya@hockeycanada.ca 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

ssharkey@hockeycanada.ca

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

jknight@hockeycanada.ca

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